Covid 19 continues

I hope this finds you safe and sound. Are you learning to be nimble, willing to change and just flow with the unknown? That’s pretty much what these current times are asking us to do.

Here’s an update on how Medicine in Balance is handling things:

Hours: We continue to be closed on Wednesdays and Fridays for the foreseeable future. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays we’ll be open, but hours each day might vary a bit depending on the number of phone and virtual visits we are actually doing. NO in person visits, and the other practitioners, who rely on face to face and hands on, are currently not available. It is still unclear how long this will be, but we’re anticipating this to last into or through May at least.

Visits: If you already have your labs done and you have an appt, then we’re in good shape–we’ll simply change to a phone visit. If you have a visit scheduled but don’t want to go to the lab, we have two choices: we can still have the visit to talk about how you are, how your plan is going, and I can give recommendations without the labs. There is a lot I can do just based on what you tell me about how you’re feeling. Or we can postpone the visit, but that will likely mean moving it to at least June or later. Obviously any exams are moved to the summer—very few of you have paps that need to be done urgently! If you aren’t sure what to do, please email me directly and we’ll chat (drwarner@medicineinbalance.com).

If you are a new patient, or if you get this blog post and would like to be a new patient but have never seen me, you’re in luck: for the first time EVER, I’m seeing new patients by telemedicine–video visits. In the past, I’ve preferred to see folks live–I learn a lot about someone from watching how they get up from the waiting room chair, how they shake my hand, how they walk down the hall, etc. Also, in the past, the legality of telemedicine was technically in question. Well, since this pandemic started, every state in the nation has decided that telemedicine is just fine. Funny how necessity makes things happen, right? So, we won’t need to reschedule your appointments, just flip them to video. I have a new system I’ll be playing with this weekend, so stay tuned.

New: there is a drive through Covid 19 testing site being set up 2 parking lots away from our office. If you feel you need testing, this is a good place to go. You’ll need a doctor’s note, so if you want one, email me directly, please.

For your safety and information, I’ve been collaborating with other Institute for Functional Medicine faculty–we’re sharing data, research and ideas. I’ll list some interesting links below. But here’s the basics:

Stay home. Really. You should only be going out to buy food and other necessities, and to get fresh air. When you do, stay 6 feet away from everyone you don’t live with. We humans are notoriously bad at calculating distance. Here’s a thought: take a yard stick, put it on the floor at your feet. Flip it end to end once. Have someone you live will stand at the other end. That’s how far apart everyone should be. And you might want to take that yard stick with you if you walk in fairly crowded places, asking everyone to stay twice that distance away from you. We live on the canal, and folks are NOT distancing correctly on the towpath, believe me. By the way, if you usually walk with a friend or neighbor, you can keep doing that, but maintain distance. Seriously.

Maintain your sleep. Yep, that’s even been harder for me lately. Our Sleep Tea can help. So can melatonin or phosphatidylserine. Let me know if you need a specific suggestion for your situation

Try to make your comfort foods be healthy. A warm soup, chili or baked apple is a better choice than chips or ice cream. If you really want to avoid grocery shopping and the delivery services are running low on stuff, consider Sunbasket.com.

We covered supplements last time. If you have specific questions for your situation, please email me directly.

If you ARE working in an essential business and it means you’re interacting with other people regularly, you should consider taking your temperature daily. Often, but not always, an infected person shows a rise in temperature as they begin to shed virus, even prior to showing any other clinical signs. That will let you know you need to self isolate immediately.

Should you wipe off mail or packages you receive? Dr Fauci said not really during an interview I saw this morning. But let’s just say that at the office, we wash our hands after handling the mail or opening up packages that arrive. Same goes for when you have to handle cash.